Box Score UNO-Tulane Box Score
NEW ORLEANS –
Antonio Wertz and
Lovell Cook put together career-high performances for the University of New Orleans in a 72-53 loss to Tulane on Saturday night in the Hoops for Hope Classic at Fogelman Arena.
Wertz scored 26 points to lead UNO (3-4) in the contest, eclipsing his previous best of 22 points from a victory against Pensacola Christian on Dec. 4, 2010. The Alma, Ga. native added a team-high nine rebounds, narrowly missing his second career double-double.
Cook topped 13 points for the fourth consecutive game by adding a career-high 17 points. As a duo, Cook and Wertz accounted for 81 percent of UNO's offense on the night while shooting a combined 19 of 26 from the field.
Tomas Bruha scored 18 points off the bench on 8 of 10 shooting as TU improved to 6-0 for the program's best start since going 13-0 to open the 1991-92 season.
The Green Wave received 16 points from Jordan Callahan while Ricky Tarrant and Josh Davis scored 13 and 10 points, respectively. Davis rounded out a double-double with a game-high 12 rebounds.
“Overall our team did a great job of executing our game plan,” said UNO head coach
Mark Slessinger. “We felt like that we could attack them in the middle of the floor.
“
Antonio Wertz and
Lovell Cook along with
Albert Peterson,
Chris Costanza and
Lenny Harmon did a great job attacking them in the middle of the floor.”
TU gained an advantage early in the contest and would hold off several UNO attempts to get back in the driver's seat. The Green Wave shot 52 percent from the field in the game's opening half and carried a 34-24 advantage into the break.
Darrell Williams opened the scoring for the Privateers with a three-pointer before the Green Wave responded with four straight points. The lead changed twice more before three minutes had passed in the contest with TU moving into the driver's seat at 6-5.
The lead would remain in the Green Wave's favor through the end of the first half with UNO reaching within one point at 13-12 after opening the contest 5 of 6 from the field. TU staked to a double-digit lead for the first time in the game with 3:33 remaining before the half, an edge they would hold into the break.
In the second half, UNO came out firing with a Wertz put-back pulling the visitors within six at 41-35 with 16:25 left.
The momentum swung following a technical foul charged on
Generra Varmall with 15:51 to go. TU made 2 of 4 free throw opportunities stemming from the technical and before long had jumped ahead 50-38 at the 13:38 mark.
UNO cut the deficit to seven before another Varmall technical sent the guard to the locker room. TU capitalized on free throws and was back ahead by double-digits.
The last solid run by the Privateers came when they scored 11 of 13 points to pull within five at 52-47.
A Wertz three-pointer capped the run for UNO before the Green Wave closed the contest by scoring 19 of the game's final 24 points to produce the final margin of victory. For the game, TU shot 49.1 percent from the field compared to 40.4 percent by UNO.
“The frustrating part about tonight is that the score will not tell the story of the quality of the game,” said Slessinger.” It was a classic Tulane-UNO battle and I thought both teams played at a high level throughout the night and unfortunately for us, they made the run at the end.”
"Tomorrow we get to play a great Alcorn team that bounced back and lost a tight one to San Diego. They are a very athletic, strong and physical team. We can not be happier going back to the friendly confines of Lakefront Arena on Sunday."
The Privateers will finish out the Hoops for Hope Classic on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Lakefront Arena against Alcorn State. The game will be broadcast live on WGSO 990 AM with live video available on the UNO Showcase located at UNOPrivateers.com.
